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How laundry could slash US carbon emissions

IF ONLY American commuters would pool their cars – and commit 16 other acts of environmental kindness – they could slash US CO2 emissions by 7.4 per cent by 2019.

Thomas Dietz of Michigan State University, East Lansing, and his team calculated the carbon-saving impact of 17 practices, such as hanging laundry out to dry and buying fuel-efficient vehicles (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI&colon; 10.1073/pnas.0908738106).

Drawing on earlier studies, Dietz estimated what proportion of the population could be persuaded to adopt each form of behaviour. For example, 90 per cent of Americans would be likely to take …